Common-property Arrangements and Scarce Resources: Water in the American West PDF
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Common-Property Arrangements and Scarce Resources: Water in the American West EDWARD M. BARBANELL PRAEGER Common-Property Arrangements and Scarce Resources Common-Property Arrangements and Scarce Resources Water in the American West EDWARD M. BARBANELL Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barbanell,Edward. Common-property arrangements and scarce resources : water in the American West / Edward M.Barbanell. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–275–97173–2 (alk.paper) 1. Water-supply—West (U.S.) 2. Natural resources,Communal—West (U.S.) I. Title. TD223.6.B37 2001 363.6′1′0978—dc21 2001032908 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available. Copyright © 2001 by Edward M.Barbanell All rights reserved.No portion of this book may be reproduced,by any process or technique,without the express written consent of the publisher. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:2001032908 ISBN:0–275–97173–2 First published in 2001 Praeger Publishers,88 Post Road West,Westport,CT 06881 An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group,Inc. www.praeger.com Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this book complies with the Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Angryasonemaybeatwhatheedlessmenhavedoneand stilldotoanoblehabitat,onecannotbepessimisticabout the West. This is the native home of hope. When it fully learns that cooperation,not rugged individualism,is the quality that most characterizes and preserves it, then it will have achieved itself and outlived its origins.Then it has a chance to create a society to match its scenery. Wallace Stegner,The Sound of Mountain Water Contents Preface ix 1. Taking Scarcity Seriously 1 2. Water Rights Doctrines,East and West 23 3. The Structure of Property Rights and the Nature of Resources 53 4. Locke’s Account of Property 81 5. Economics and Property Rights 109 6. Toward a Common-Property Arrangement for Water in the West 135 Selected Bibliography 165 Index 173 Preface There is a widely held belief among philosophers and economists that all scarce resources are utilized best when their use is con- trolledthroughawell-functioningsystemofprivatepropertyrights, orprivateownership.Theaimofthisbookistounderminethatbelief by arguing that for at least one important resource—water in the American West—another form of ownership, what I call a com- mon-propertyarrangement,isapreferableandachievablealterna- tivetoprivateownership.Inthecourseoflayingoutthatargument, several conceptual issues arise about the nature of resources, the structure of property rights,and the relationship between the two. Bysortingoutsomeofthosemoregeneralissues,Iofferanexpanded framework of ownership, or rights-relationships, within which to discussandattempttoresolveavarietyofproblemsassociatedwith resource scarcity. Theconcernsthatignitedthisprojectaremorethanmerelyaca- demic;theyarepracticalaswellastheoretical.Thepracticalconcern issimplythis,thatinmuchoftheAmericanWest,waterisfastbe- coming a critically scarce resource. The Colorado River, the major sourceofwaterformuchoftheregion,hasbecomesodegradedand depleted that the entire pattern of water use there must change quiteextensively,andsoon.DemonstratingthatwaterintheWestis, in fact, critically scarce, a task undertaken in chapter 1, serves to
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